Energy reports
Nuclear energy risks an industrial meltdown for local manufacturing jobs
Year - 2025 Partners - Renew Australia for All
A nuclear policy, if enacted, risks Australia’s aluminium manufacturing industry and up to 13,500 jobs due to:
● A 50% collapse in industrial electricity usage by 2035
● Permanently higher electricity prices, and more reliance on ageing and increasingly unreliable coal and expensive gas generation
● Development & decarbonisation timelines that don’t meet industry requirements or align with climate science
Delaying renewable energy in favour of nuclear reactors in Australia could risk closure of the country’s four aluminium smelters (at Tomago in NSW, Gladstone in Queensland, Portland in Victoria, and Bell Bay in Tasmania) and up to 13,500 jobs. The switch to nuclear would drastically reduce electricity available for industrial usage across eastern states, and would leave the sector facing high energy prices.
Our analysis examines the modelling that informs the Federal Opposition’s nuclear policy. The model used to underpin the policy and associated costings shows that industrial electricity usage would halve as early as 2035 (dropping from 45.4 TWh/year currently, to 22.8 TWh/year in 2035) - a collapse in energy usage of this magnitude is equivalent to the closure of Australia’s four aluminium smelters (they currently use 23.5 TWh/year).
The risk posed by this collapse is further exacerbated by an associated increase in energy costs and a decarbonisation timeline that is too slow to meet the requirements of the environment or those outlined by industry.
Australia’s aluminium industry currently supports 7,594 direct jobs and 5,886 jobs indirectly. The energy pathway we are following already will re-power existing smelters with lowest-cost, firmed renewable energy, offering security and sustainability to vital regional manufacturing hubs and the thousands of livelihoods that depend on them.